Journalist's fate now in hands of Iranian judge

April 15, 2009|Tribune Newspapers

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The trial of an Iranian American journalist facing espionage charges is over and her fate rests in the hands of a judge who will deliver a verdict in the next three weeks, a judiciary official in Tehran told reporters Tuesday.

The spokesman for Iran's judiciary said Roxana Saberi, 31, an American-born dual U.S. and Iranian national, had her day in court on Monday.

"Apparently, the court has heard her final defense," spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, according to Iran's Mehr News Agency.

Saberi faces accusations of collecting information from Iranian officials and passing it to U.S. intelligence services, authorities said last week. She and her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, appeared Monday before a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Court, which tries politically charged crimes.

Iranian lawyers have frequently questioned the due process and transparency afforded defendants at the Revolutionary Court. Sources close to the defense said that Khorramshahi was asked not to speak publicly about the case.

Saberi was detained in January after living and working in Iran for six years as a journalist, at least two of them without accreditation. She was confined to Tehran's Evin Prison.

Her parents, Reza and Akiko, arrived in Tehran last week. A few days later, she was formally charged with espionage.